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AFLAC Cans Gilbert Gottfried After Insensitive Japan Earthquake Tweets

vchimpanzee said:
gregg75 said:
What was he smoking? Was he visiting Charlie Sheen or Britney Spears?

I follow the Ledger-Enquirer newspaper in Aflac's hometown Columbus, Ga.

Here are a few of the "insensitive" tweets he tweeted."
Click to expand...
Yeah, I could easily find these funny if it weren't so tragic. If there had been a less disastrous event. Of course, I watch Seth MacFarlane's animated sitcoms.
Click to expand...

For those who know Gottfried, he's the personification of insensitive, in howlingly funny ways (at least, among the not-easily-offended.)

It was his legendary use of The Aristocrats gag - now famous for being a vessel into which a comedian can pour the filthiest, most depraved descriptions they can think of and still call it 'comedy' - at a Friars roast in New York three days after 9/11 that caused the documentary "The Aristocrats" to be created. When he pulled it out, half the crowd left disgusted; the other half were on the floor gasping for breath from laughing.

Of course, we didn't have Twitter back then. Now it just makes it easy for outrage addicts to become outraged.
 
hubcity said:
vchimpanzee said:
gregg75 said:
What was he smoking? Was he visiting Charlie Sheen or Britney Spears?

I follow the Ledger-Enquirer newspaper in Aflac's hometown Columbus, Ga.

Here are a few of the "insensitive" tweets he tweeted."
Click to expand...
Yeah, I could easily find these funny if it weren't so tragic. If there had been a less disastrous event. Of course, I watch Seth MacFarlane's animated sitcoms.
Click to expand...

For those who know Gottfried, he's the personification of insensitive, in howlingly funny ways (at least, among the not-easily-offended.)

It was his legendary use of The Aristocrats gag - now famous for being a vessel into which a comedian can pour the filthiest, most depraved descriptions they can think of and still call it 'comedy' - at a Friars roast in New York three days after 9/11 that caused the documentary "The Aristocrats" to be created. When he pulled it out, half the crowd left disgusted; the other half were on the floor gasping for breath from laughing.

Of course, we didn't have Twitter back then. Now it just makes it easy for outrage addicts to become outraged.
Click to expand...
Right after 9-11, I couldn't imagine laughing about it. Now we do it all the time.
 
vchimpanzee said:
hubcity said:
For those who know Gottfried, he's the personification of insensitive, in howlingly funny ways (at least, among the not-easily-offended.)

It was his legendary use of The Aristocrats gag - now famous for being a vessel into which a comedian can pour the filthiest, most depraved descriptions they can think of and still call it 'comedy' - at a Friars roast in New York three days after 9/11 that caused the documentary "The Aristocrats" to be created. When he pulled it out, half the crowd left disgusted; the other half were on the floor gasping for breath from laughing.

Of course, we didn't have Twitter back then. Now it just makes it easy for outrage addicts to become outraged.
Click to expand...
Right after 9-11, I couldn't imagine laughing about it. Now we do it all the time.
Click to expand...
...that Friar's Club roast was in honour of Hugh Hefner, and one of the other comics appearing was Dick Gregory, who'd gotten his big break at the original Playboy Club in Chicago. One of Greg's comments that night was exactly what was needed to put it all into perspective: "Fear and God do not inhabit the same space." In a sideways sort of manner, I think that's what Gottfried had in mind here as well -- laughing at the fears we all have about disaster and death in order to defeat them...
 
Ultimajock said:
...I've heard that Kevin Pollak and Harry Shearer, who have both done impersonations of Gottfried's duck voice (the former with an "anthrax!" gag on Bravo's Dinner For Five shortly after the Dan Rather/Tom Brokaw mail terrorism incidents), have both turned down the replacement gig...

...Gottfried has done this kind of humour for decades. If Aflac was unaware of it, they had the embarrassment coming...
Click to expand...

reminds me of the time fox was al set to give howard stern a late night show and sternput on a raunchy adults only new years eve pay per view.

fox was like "we didn`t expect this kind of thing from howard stern " and canceled the program.

i`m not equating that with an tragedy like what japan endured but i am equating it with the corporate reaction.
 
gregg75 said:
Gilbert is doing the Connie Francis bit tonight.....

"I'M SORRY, OH SO SORRY......."
Click to expand...
...Gregg, that was Brenda Lee, not Connie Francis. Connie did "Who's Sorry Now?"...
 
vchimpanzee said:
hubcity said:
vchimpanzee said:
gregg75 said:
What was he smoking? Was he visiting Charlie Sheen or Britney Spears?

I follow the Ledger-Enquirer newspaper in Aflac's hometown Columbus, Ga.

Here are a few of the "insensitive" tweets he tweeted."
Click to expand...
Yeah, I could easily find these funny if it weren't so tragic. If there had been a less disastrous event. Of course, I watch Seth MacFarlane's animated sitcoms.
Click to expand...

For those who know Gottfried, he's the personification of insensitive, in howlingly funny ways (at least, among the not-easily-offended.)

It was his legendary use of The Aristocrats gag - now famous for being a vessel into which a comedian can pour the filthiest, most depraved descriptions they can think of and still call it 'comedy' - at a Friars roast in New York three days after 9/11 that caused the documentary "The Aristocrats" to be created. When he pulled it out, half the crowd left disgusted; the other half were on the floor gasping for breath from laughing.

Of course, we didn't have Twitter back then. Now it just makes it easy for outrage addicts to become outraged.
Click to expand...
Right after 9-11, I couldn't imagine laughing about it. Now we do it all the time.
Click to expand...

Well, yeah. The appropriateness of a joke has a lot to do with timing. If you recall, a day or two after 9/11, Bill Maher lost his program on ABC late night because he disagreed with the pundits who were calling the terrorists "cowardly." He was very careful to state that he was in no way supporting terrorism, just that the terrorists were willing to die for their cause and could hardly be considered cowardly. It wasn't even meant as a joke, really, just a comment, and I think he was right. Most ironic - he said it on a show called Politically Incorrect! But it was still the wrong remark at the wrong time.

Though not quite as emotional a situation, it's similar to making jokes about the misery of the Japanese people only a day or two after thousands of them have died and hundreds of thousands have been made homeless during winter .

I'm not saying Gottfried should be censored, just that the reaction is understandable.
 
Gottfried has apologized. Too little, too late in my book. If a person wants to make insensitive jokes about a tragedy then they (or anyone who supports him) should not be surprised by the consequences. It's a risk Gottfried took and he lost.

Aflac was totally within their right to fire this nitwit. That's the price he should expect to pay. Tasteless jokes are a great way to sabotage a career.

http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=1402004
 
Carmine5 said:
Gottfried has apologized. Too little, too late in my book. If a person wants to make insensitive jokes about a tragedy then they (or anyone who supports him) should not be surprised by the consequences. It's a risk Gottfried took and he lost.

Aflac was totally within their right to fire this nitwit. That's the price he should expect to pay. Tasteless jokes are a great way to sabotage a career.

http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=1402004
Click to expand...

however his career is pretty much tastless jokes.
 
gilbert godfried lost one job but it was not his main job.he will go on doing tasteless jokes in his stand up act for some time i am sure.aflak was not his showbusines career.
 
flashback said:
gilbert godfried lost one job but it was not his main job.he will go on doing tasteless jokes in his stand up act for some time i am sure.aflak was not his showbusines career.
Click to expand...

Maybe, but doing commercials for major companies is a dream gig for an actor because it pays so well for so little work. Catherine Zeta-Jones was reportedly paid 20 million for her T-Mobile spots and Justin Long was paid 2 million by Apple just to not appear in other commercials on top of what he was being paid for the Mac/PC ads. Understandably these companies want a spokesperson who is liked by consumers or brings a positive image to their products and services.

Gottfried had better double or triple up on his club dates because he has basically closed that lucrative door--at least for a long while.
 
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